Previously, I bragged about fitting in seven movies over my
usual six at
Cinetopia. For August, I shattered that record with a whopping
nine. Honestly, I don’t know how I did it. It wasn’t as if August was less
busy. On the contrary, there was never a dull moment: I had a birthday, went to
my high school reunion, raised enough money to
publish a book, participated in
Portland’s 48-hr Film Project, went to “
Trek in the Park,” kept up with all the
new episodes of “
Breaking Bad,” and – on top of the nine films I saw at
Cinetopia – I saw at least six more at the
Hollywood Theatre (speaking of
which,
Fruitvale Station,
20 Feet from Stardom, and
Joss Whedon’s
Much Ado About Nothing are all quite
good and well worth checking out). It made me realize that the reason my
Cinetopia average is only six movies per month isn’t because I don’t have time
to watch more; It’s because there aren’t more worth watching in any given
month. August was a major exception, though. Some of the best movies of the
year played last month.
Movie Thirty-three: 2 Guns – I was pretty devastated
when
Tony Scott took his life about this time last year. Not just because
suicide is always tragic and not just because I thought he was a skilled
auteur, but because he made a particular kind of movie that we don’t see too
much of anymore. And, now that he’s gone, we’re likely to see it even less.
There isn’t even a word to describe the kind of film I mean. Think about what
abstract elements
Top Gun,
The Last Boy Scout, and
Enemy of the State have in common and
that’s what it is. The action movie that’s silly but not stupid, fun but not campy,
violent but not grotesque, implausible but not unbelievable, frivolous but not lazy,
accessible but not insulting. It’s a delicate equilibrium and Tony Scott made
it look easy. Even the movies of his I didn’t particularly like, I still
respected.
2 Guns is about the
closest I’ve ever seen a movie come to re-creating Tony Scott’s magic since
(and it stars
Denzel Washington, Mr. Scott’s most oft-used leading man).
2 Guns has that aloof “too cool for
school” atmosphere, well-crafted action scenes (that are actually relevant to
the plot and – thankfully – not computer generated), charmingly duplicitous
villains, and a lively sense of humor injected throughout. Not everyone will
appreciate it, but I feel sorry for those people. Whenever I think I might be
turning into a movie snob, I remember how much pleasure I get from rollercoaster-esque
films like this and it brings me back to reality.
Movie Thirty-four: We’re the Millers – I love the idea
for this movie. It’s like
National Lampoon’s Vacation meets
Blow.
Plus, it’s got a strong cast that has great chemistry (both as total strangers
and as a fake family). The characters are well-realized and they interact very
naturalistically. Somewhere, however, it falls short. I suppose the easiest
place to cast blame is in the writing, which is too bad because the writers
were at least competent enough to create such strong exposition. I guess they
just couldn’t finish what they started. That’s not to say this is a bad movie.
I laughed a lot and enjoyed it for the most part. What I found disappointing
was that it was poised for something great, but delivered something that was
merely good. I guess what bothered me most was that it was so fraught with deus
ex machina. The “Millers” get themselves into so many sticky situations, as the
plot suggests, but their means of getting out of them are so simple and random
it seems like the writers were more interested in moving onto the next scene
than dealing with the one at hand. That’s a shame. This story and its
characters deserve better.
Movie Thirty-five: Planes – I love all things
PIXAR,
but I think my least favorite of their films so far is
Cars 2. I enjoyed the original
Cars,
but I didn’t think it merited a sequel and consequently found the sophomore
installment pretty forgettable. I’m glad they made
Planes instead of
Cars 3,
but not that glad.
Planes is pretty
much a combination of
Cars (except,
instead of a superstar who learns humility, we have an underdog who learns how to
become a superstar) and
Cars 2
(except instead of an international race that accompanies a spy thriller, we
have simply an international race without any espionage subplot at all).
Writer/director
Klay Hall is pretty new to this (writing, directing, and being
employed by PIXAR) and it shows. The aerial animation is fun to watch, but
that’s about the only exceptional thing about it. I saw the film in 2-D, but I
think it could possibly be better in 3-D. That’s not much of a compliment,
though. I hate to say PIXAR has gotten to the point of “phoning it in”, but
that’s what this film feels like. This close on the heels of the superb
Monsters University, it seems more like
Planes served as a practice round more
than a serious attempt at another great film. The end credits announce that a
sequel is already in the works. PIXAR has set the bar pretty high for
themselves for many years, so I hope they up their game for
Planes: Fire & Rescue next year. I’m
pretty sure I’ll be less forgiving of it than I was towards
Cars 2.
Movie Thirty-six: Elysium – In my recap of
Pacific Rim last month, I
expressed my admiration for
Guillermo Del Toro’s handling of CGI. He should
watch his back, though, because
Neill Blomkamp is close to dethroning Mr. Del
Toro. I didn’t think
District 9 was
worthy of an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, but I was pretty amazed by its
stunning special effects and overall originality. Blomkamp delivers another
unique mind-blowing adventure for his second feature proving at the very least
that, as a writer/director, he is far from a one-hit wonder. This isn’t the
best film of the year, but it just might be the most impressive. Like
District 9, this film also has its share
of social commentary (focusing mostly on immigration, poverty, and *gasp*
universal health care). The story itself is very original and quite
enthralling, but it’s all the extra stuff that really pushes it over the top.
The technology in the film (manifested as weapons, tools, vehicles, medical devices,
communications, etc) is awe-inspiring as well as logically realistic in a
possible future. I was reminded of
Minority Report, which employed similar tactics, but not as remarkably as here. The plot
is smart, but fairly simple. The characters are likeable enough and matched by
the villains’ flagitiousness. The action scenes are exciting and quite
visceral. Although, I would like to make one sincere plea in response to this
film (not just to Mr. Blomkamp, but to contemporary directors all over the world):
Please stop with this shaky camera
nonsense. The steady cam was invented for a reason and it works perfectly,
so use it. While the shaky picture adds some sense of chaos and realism, it’s
ultimately distracting and damn frustrating when the viewer can barely tell
what’s going on. If you can just get over that shortcoming, Mr. Blomkamp, the
throne is yours.
Movie Thirty-seven: Kick-Ass 2 – I did not like the
original
Kick-Ass, which is a pity
because I was prepared to love it. I felt like it couldn’t decide between being
an ironic misfit comedy or a gritty action drama (Imagine if
Kevin Smith and
Martin Scorcese tried to make a movie together). Consequently, the film failed as
both a comedy and an action picture. Overall, I found it distastefully nihilistic,
unappealingly brutal and one of the most mean-spirited films I’ve ever seen, so
I approached this sequel prepared to see them go further down the spiral
(especially since
Jim Carrey said he couldn’t in good conscience promote the
film due its violent content). The truth is, much to my surprise, I really
liked it. I felt like it was exactly what its predecessor should have been: A
well-constructed dark comedy with the kind of tongue-in-cheek action scenes
that would make
Robert Rodriguez smirk. It’s probably every bit as violent as
the original, but somehow it doesn’t seem as cruel or cynical. Plus, the
original had too many scenes that felt pointless and out of place, but this
film seems more purposeful. It’s still quite silly and it wouldn’t surprise me
if more people hate it than love it, but it’s exceptionally rare for me to
enjoy the sequel to a movie I thought sucked pretty bad. The epilogue after the
end credits indicates that they have every intention of making a
Kick-Ass 3. I’m totally okay with that,
provided they continue to learn from their mistakes.
Movie Thirty-eight: The Butler
– I remember, the night Barack Obama was elected President in November of 2008,
I was at the
Democratic Party of Oregon’s rally at the
Convention Center in Portland
– not because I’m a hard-core Democrat, but because a friend had an extra
ticket and it seemed like an exciting place to be on election night. By the
time we got there, Obama had already been declared the winner and the building
was vibrating with shouts and cheers of victory and relief – up until Obama
delivered his
acceptance speech. The entire hall, filled with who knows how
many thousands of people, went totally silent. I was standing below one of the
projection screens broadcasting his speech, putting me pretty much at the front
of the crowd. I decided to turn around and look at the audience instead of up
at the president for the duration of the speech. I figured if I wanted to
see the president’s acceptance speech, I
could watch it online later. Instead, I opted to watch the faces of his
supporters while I listened to his words. One woman in the crowd stood out to
me and I ended up watching her the whole time. She was standing about five or
six feet away from me and had no idea she was the focus of my attention because
she was so riveted by what was onscreen. She was a server – probably employed
by the convention center – who was there to offer attendees drinks and collect
empties, pick up trash for people too preoccupied to find a garbage can and that
kinda stuff. She looked sharp in her black slacks and white shirt with a bow
tie. I had noticed her before because she had offered me a drink from her tray,
which I accepted and thanked her, but hadn’t given her much thought until I saw
her watching the president’s speech. Her fingers were clasped in front of her
mouth as though she was praying and, besides blinking, she remained absolutely
still. There was no need for her to serve because everyone else was just as
rapt as she was. I could tell this moment meant more to her than the majority
of the people in that convention hall, though. Not just because of her body
language and facial expression, but because she was black. And this moment was
huge. Her eyes glistened, but I never saw a tear and she stood there and
watched the president say “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that
America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the
dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of
our democracy, tonight is your answer,” and didn’t move. Then, when the
president concluded, and the rest of the crowd erupted in ear-shattering
applause, she picked up her tray and went right back to work. I never spoke to
her, yet she taught me so much about, not only how far we’d come as a country,
but also how much further we had to go. I realize I haven’t said a thing about
The Butler as a movie, but I will say it
had the same effect on me as that anonymous woman did five years ago. I can’t
think of a better way to sum it up than that.
Movie Thirty-nine: The World’s End – When it comes to
Sci-Fi, Horror, Action and Comedy, you can usually combine any two of those
genres and come up with a good movie. Any three, you’re going out on a limb,
but it can still be done by an adept enough filmmaker. Try to do all four at
once and you’re really asking for trouble.
Edgar Wright has worked his way up,
though, and has miraculously pulled off a brilliant “foursome” that entertains
exceedingly on all four levels. This movie is amazing. The first half-hour or
so is the British ensemble cast deftly exchanging pithy remarks in a rapid-fire
pace that exceeds the laugh count of most modern day comedies. That in itself
is a movie well worth watching, but no: Robots attack after exposition has been
well established and the movie continuously cranks up the laughs, the
excitement and the surprises until the end credits roll. This movie was
everything I hoped
This is The End
would be (and sadly was
not). I would
have been perfectly satisfied if 2013 didn’t bring forth a film as funny as
The Heat (because that movie was pretty
damn funny), but
The World’s End is
such an overwhelmingly relentless amusement park of a movie, that to expect
more from a motion picture is really asking too much. One thing’s for sure:
There’s no point in making a top ten list of the best bar fights in a movie
‘cuz
The World’s End contains all
ten.
Movie Forty: The Spectacular Now – Romantic
comedies, be they good or bad, all pretty much have the exact same plot. The details
within are infinite, but the essence remains the same and thus is probably the
most challenging area of storytelling to inject with enough originality to not
feel redundant. On top of that (and perhaps even more importantly), the
characters have to be extra likeable and more realistic than most other movies
or else the audience isn’t going to buy into it. One shortcut towards achieving
that is to go with the coming-of-age plotline. Because that’s such a convenient
template for romantic comedies, I always have a tremendous amount of respect
for films that venture outside the comfort zone of that genre. We all know that
adolescence is hard, but few movies really truly demonstrate – to the point
where the viewer is practically re-experiencing the anguish along with the
characters – exactly how hard it can be at times. That’s a lofty goal to set
for one’s self, but – when they hit it – it really makes for a powerful film.
The amazing thing about
The Spectacular
Now is that it maintains that everything is fine on the surface. The
characters laugh and joke and have a good time and yeah, they have their
problems, but that’s cool, y’know? But emotions run high, vulnerabilities are
exposed, and things come to a boil culminating into scenes that are as
heartbreaking as they are touching. To explain how would be to ruin the movie,
because movies like this, after all, are meant to be experienced along with the
characters in it. And when they hit the point where they’ve become so
overwhelmed that they need a shoulder to cry on, you want to cry along with
them.
Movie Forty-one: Blue Jasmine – People often ask the
question “Are you a
Woody Allen fan?” as if you either love his movies, or you
don’t. While there are a number of styles, techniques and subject matters employed
regularly by Mr. Allen, I find his films different enough to be able to say I
love some, like some and hate some. In others words, I find that question
unfair. I didn’t see
his previous film, but I did see
the one before that and
liked it a lot – enough to be excited to see
Blue Jasmine. Unfortunately, I did not like
Blue Jasmine at all. One common element that I think all Woody
Allen films
do have in common is that
they’re character-driven. So, if you don’t like the characters, you probably
won’t like the film. That’s certainly the case here. Much as I love
Cate Blanchette (and even as good as her performance is in this movie), I really
hated her character. Sometimes that can serve the story if you care enough to
see them get their comeuppance, but in this case, I really didn’t care one way
or the other. I just found her annoying and was waiting for something – anything
– to happen that would catch my interest. That’s the second mistake: If your
characters aren’t likable, at least try to make something interesting happen to
them. Having failed both of those, I could have forgiven the film if it was at
least funny, but it was not. A friend of mine, dissatisfied with Woody Allen’s
movies from about ten years ago, said to me after watching
Midnight in Paris, “He’s getting better.” Unfortunately, I don’t
think Woody Allen’s films are like weather patterns. They’re more like pieces
of fruit. Just ‘cuz the last one was sweet doesn’t mean the next one won’t be
rotten.
It’s saying something that the biggest disappointments of
last month were from Woody Allen and PIXAR. Maybe there’s hope for Hollywood
yet. I can’t say many of the trailers for films being released in September
have excited me, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised in the past. Even in a
worst case scenario, August’s films were good enough to hold me over ‘til
November.
